With the development and deployment of mobile devices such as laptop computers, personal digital assistant devices, cell phones, etc. and infrastructures, consumers and businesses are increasingly being able to realize the benefits of true mobile computing, collaboration, and information exchange. Hand-in-hand with mobile devices, electronic messaging such as electronic mail (“e-mail”) and instant messaging carried over the Internet, is rapidly becoming not only quite pervasive in society but also, given its informality, ease of use and low cost, a preferred method of communication for many individuals and organizations.
More messaging devices and systems are available today than perhaps ever before, providing individuals with numerous ways to communicate and exchange messages with one another. One of the ways to communicate and exchange messages with one another is to send text messages via cell phones and the like. One method of sending text messages with cell phones is through the use of protocols such as short messaging service (SMS).
SMS provides the ability to transmit text messages of up to 160 characters to and from a cell phones. Users type text messages using the keypad of their cell phone. However, there are limitations to the effectiveness and convenience of using the keypad to type messages. For example, the mapping of alphabetical characters to numbers on the keypad make text composition a cumbersome task as the same keypad number may represent several alphabetical characters and/or graphical icons. Additionally, many cell phones provide limited support for international alphabets (e.g., alphabets that are used in countries other than where the phone is sold).
Some members of industry recognized the mapping problem and are developing proprietary solutions. For example, cell phone manufacturers are starting to develop interfaces for their cell phone products to interface with a computer and store and write text messages from the computer. The interfaces that are being developed are limited to the particular manufacturer's cell phones and therefore do not provide a global solution to the keypad issue.